Hostel director mulls PG-13 sci-fi Endangered Species

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Best known for graphically R-rated horror movies such as Hostel (which inspired the term "torture porn"), director Eli Roth plans to tone it down for his next film, the sci-fi movie Endangered Species, which he intends as a more mainstream film.

"I love PG-13 scary sci-fi movies," Roth said in an exclusive interview Sunday in Beverly Hills, Calif., where he was promoting Inglourious Basterds. "Especially when it's a cool story and well done, and it's great, I have the best time at those movies. This story that I have is so conducive to that, but it's a big-budget movie, and it's going to take a long time to do. It's a lot of pieces to put together. It's not something I can shoot in 24 days [like a horror movie]."

Roth kept mum on the "species" in the title of his proposed film. "You guys will find out," he teased. But he specified his sources of inspiration.

"I watched Close Encounters [of the Third Kind] and Jurassic Park," Roth said. "Really, Close Encounters, that's the movie. I love that movie, and I wanted to do something a little scarier, a little more Jurassic Park, Transformers, Cloverfield. I love those movies."

Perhaps the biggest roadblock to Endangered Species is Roth's burgeoning acting career. He has a starring role in Basterds.

"I haven't been able to start the process," Roth said. "I'll be able to start in September. I'm going to dive right into Endangered Species, but I haven't been able to finish the script because I've been so busy on this, which is good. Look, it's great. If I have to stop my directing career to be in a movie with Brad Pitt, worse things could happen to a guy. I have to make the most of this time and opportunity."